Compensation Lead

#26-74299

Houston, Texas, USA

Job Category

Human Resources

Full-Time/Part-Time

Full-time

Job Description

Primary Purpose

Leads the strategy, design, governance, and continuous evolution of the company’s compensation programs that support cross-functional, and business needs. Establishes compensation frameworks, pay philosophy, and governance practices that drive market competitiveness, ensure internal pay equity, and maintain regulatory compliance. Oversees all aspects of compensation including base, short- and long-term incentives, equity, job architecture, and market pricing, leveraging market intelligence, benchmarking, and advanced analytics to deliver innovative reward solutions that attract, retain, and motivate talent. Serves as a trusted advisor to senior leadership, partnering with HR, Finance, Legal, and executive stakeholders to guide compensation strategy, organizational design, and transformation initiatives.

Duties And Responsibilities

• Leverages advanced analytics, market intelligence, and data insights to inform decision-making and deliver competitive, data-driven compensation solutions.
• Leads communication and change management initiatives to enhance employee understanding, transparency, and engagement with total rewards programs.
• Serves as a strategic advisor to HR and business leaders on compensation trends, best practices, and innovation opportunities.
• Drives continuous improvement initiatives to enhance the effectiveness, scalability, and alignment of compensation programs with evolving business needs.
• Defines and leads compensation strategy, including pay philosophy, frameworks, and governance practices that ensure market competitiveness, internal equity, and regulatory compliance.
• Leads compensation processes, including salary structure development, market benchmarking, merit cycles, incentive payouts, and equity award planning.
• Provides strategic consultation to HR Business Partners and senior leaders on compensation strategy, organizational design, and workforce planning.
• Conducts and oversees market pricing and internal equity analyses, ensuring alignment with pay transparency and pay equity standards.
• Oversees salary survey strategy, including vendor selection, participation, benchmarking methodologies, and interpretation of market trends.
• Establishes and governs job architecture and career frameworks to drive consistency, scalability, and alignment across the organization.
• Administers equity compensation programs in partnership with Legal, Payroll, and third-party administrators, ensuring operational excellence and compliance.
• Monitors and interprets regulatory developments (e.g., FLSA, SEC, IRS 409A, ERISA, ACA) and implement necessary program enhancements to maintain compliance and mitigate risk.
• Develops and manages Total Rewards budgets, including forecasting, accruals, and alignment with financial plans.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
  
  

Requirements

Education

• Typically requires a 4-year degree in a relevant field, or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
  
  

Experience

• Typically requires 10 years of related experience.
  
  

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Compensation Administration - The process of designing, implementing, and managing employee compensation, includes determining salary structures, bonus programs, and other forms of compensation.
• Compensation Design - Ensuring compensation programs are designed effectively to meet business objectives and that the overall plan design aligns with the organization's broader business strategy with respect to market competitiveness and/or other desired standards.
• Compensation Strategy - Outlines the organization's approach toward remuneration for employees. This includes business' position on the job market, the level of total cash, the main bonus principles in the organization, rules for base salary, etc.
• Data Analysis - Measuring and managing organization data, identifying methodological best practices and conducting statistical analyses.
• Data Modeling - The process of analyzing and defining all the different data types your business collects and produces, as well as the relationships between those data points.
• Job Evaluation - Evaluating and comparing jobs and roles organizationally to determine appropriate pay using job evaluation methodologies, which include both internal and external review.
• Market Benchmarking - Collecting and evaluating compensation data by comparing the organization's data with that of competitor companies.
• Project Management - Ability to plan, execute, and oversee projects or initiatives, ensuring they are completed on time and within scope.
• Regulatory Compliance - The adherence to laws, regulations, guidelines, and specifications relevant to HR processes and workforce management, ensuring organizational activities are lawful.
• Business Partnering - Acts as a trusted advisor and builds strong relationships with colleagues and the business to drive business performance by demonstrating and applying a deep understanding of the business, the commercial context and the wider world of work to influence value drivers to optimize productivity.
  
  

Licenses and Certifications

• Certified Compensation Specialist preferred.